Mr Trump told German newspaper Bild: "If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA you will pay 35% tax.

"I would tell BMW that if you are building a factory in Mexico and plan to sell cars to the US without a 35% tax then you can forget that," he added.

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German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel said that rather than trying to penalise German carmakers, the US should instead build better and more desirable vehicles.

Imposing tariffs would make the American car industry "worse, weaker and more expensive", he added.